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Thursday, December 5, 2013

A Tim Horton's Morning

Photo: Tim Horton's vanilla latte and scone

"Awake before dawn" sounds dramatic, but it's routine when sunrise is scheduled close to 8:00 a.m. This morning the hours before dawn felt unusually quiet, with none of the usual waterfront sounds filling the air. The color outside the windows felt wrong, much too monochromatic gray. No wonder, an inch of snow covered everything and the flakes were still coming down. The snow didn't stop falling all day.I grabbed the camera after a light breakfast and set off to explore this unexpected winter wonderland. Hmmm, the ramp was my first challenge, not so much steep as very slippery.

A handful of local feral cats looked quite unsettled, lifting one paw then another to shake out the crusty snow clumps as they waited for the Kittycare Crew to come by with breakfast.

I wandered about the waterfront for an hour before the cold finally penetrated my jacket, seeped through the soles of my boots, chilled my fingers through my gloves, and nearly turned my cheeks and nose into lumps of ice. Enough of this fun! Across the busy Island Highway a Tim Horton's Restaurant beckoned to me, promising a warm interior with hot drinks and good company to save me from freezing any vital parts. The restaurant was warm, the company was terrific (good to see you N), but next time I will know better and order tea, just tea, instead of a vanilla latte and scone. The latte was overwhelmingly sweet with a heavy hand on the odd vanilla flavoring and the scone was cold and quite dry. It must not have mattered since I ate every crumb and sipped away at the drink for over an hour. Warmed and cheered by good conversation I trudged out once again into the falling snow… after N drove me back to the marina... meandered back to the boat and heated up a bowl of chili verde for lunch. Now I wonder where the dozen or more waterfront cats are curling up to stay warm in this weather.